Who you really are

When I am being talked about
and am not present

I exist in a pure form
undiluted by the complications of my body
my presence
gritty, base reality

I am a social construct;
only what people want me to be
and when I am not present
their wishes have no physical limitations.

I have forgotten how to be a man

knowing only how
to be

a myth.

- p_i, Poetry, Practicality and other Atrocities, 1998.